


Sunny Days in the Foggy City

by jiwoosone



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Crack, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Sort Of, also i make a lot of white people jokes, i dont know what college they go to, i literally dreamed this prompt so please dont @ me, i mean i try to be funny, ill update the tags as i go, jinsoul's a dumbass, just pretend its ucb except in sf instead of berkeley, please dont come for me i too am Half A YT, they're all dumbasses, this is a shitty title im sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2019-07-25 17:39:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16202414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiwoosone/pseuds/jiwoosone
Summary: What Jungeun expects from moving to San Francisco: her idiot cousin and her strange group of friends dragging her to places she definitely does not want to be (but liking them anyway), shopping at weird vintage white people stores, maybe even trying an In-N-Out burger or twoWhat Jungeun doesn’t expect: falling in love with the girl on roller skates with firecrackers taped to her arms blasting Brockhampton in a Denny’s parking lot at four in the morning





	1. Maybe Jungeun Is Embarrassed

Jungeun knew it was Jiwoo the minute she stepped out of the airport gate. She had called her cousin two weeks in advance to tell her not to make a scene at the airport picking her up, yet here she was, with six homemade signs in pink glitter, eight million fucking balloons and a—was that a pride flag draped across her shoulders? She groaned internally. Maybe if she just avoided her for a bit she wouldn’t notice and she could meet her outside—

“Kim Jungeun!”

Fuck.

She straightened and turned, walking quickly to her. Just rip it off like a bandaid. Better to get this over with and get out of here. “Jiwoo.” She said. Then, “Do you have glitter on your face?”

Jiwoo touched her face with the back of her hand, frowning. _“Do_ I have glitter on my face? It must have gotten there when I was making the signs. Oh well, that’s okay! More festive!”

Jungeun rolled her eyes, but a small smile made it on her face anyway. As over-the-top her cousin was, Jungeun did always feel better in her presence. “I would hug you, but my hands are kind of full. The others can, though.”

“Huh?” Jungeun looks behind her and realizes she’s here with other people, several of whom are looking vaguely embarrassed. The others though, immediately rush around her, all introducing themselves at once.

“The cutie right here (me) is Yeojin!”

“Shut up, dumbass. Anyway, I’m Chaewon.”

“I’M HEEJIN!”

“Dude, why are you so loud? I’m Hyejoo, by the way.”

Jungeun swallowed. “Uh—”

“Sorry about that.” A voice cut through the crowd. Jungeun turned to find a tall, seemingly calm girl with a slightly exasperated look on her face. “They’re a little much, right?”

Jungeun tilted her head. “You’re Sooyoung, right?”

“Uh, yeah. How’d you know?”

Jiwoo shot a panicked look at her, and Jungeun decided to spare her the embarrassment of explaining to Sooyoung she had sent Jungeun many lengthy texts about how in love with her she was. She shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

Jungeun noticed beside her was another quiet girl, who was looking down at her hands. “Hey, what’s your name?” She ventured.

The girl looked up, flustered, and said in a small voice, “Kahei.” She had a slight accent to her words. Chinese, maybe? “But my English name is Vivi.”

“Oh, alright. Which would you prefer?”

Kahei (Vivi?) looked down at the floor and blushed. “Um…”

Jiwoo interrupted. “Some of us have English names for public. You know, in front of white people? But you can call her Kahei when it’s just us.”

Kahei nodded. “And, I’m not very good at English yet, so can you talk more…” She mimed a mouth talking very slowly with her hand.

“Oh, yeah, no problem. Uh, does anyone else have English names?”

“Yeah, mine is Olivia.” Hyejoo says.

“And you can call me Yves in public.” Sooyoung tells her.

“Eve?”

“Like Yves Saint Laurent.”

Jungeun frowned. “Isn’t that, like, a French boy’s name?”

The rest of the girls howled as Sooyoung flushed. “I was twelve and it looked really cool, okay?”

Jiwoo giggled. “And you’re one to talk, Kim Lip.”

Now it was Jungeun’s turn to blush. “That was a long time ago!”

“Wait, what?”

“When we were younger—”

 _“Jiwoo_ —”

“Jungeun used to call herself Kim Lip. She called it her ‘Starbucks name.’”

“Jiwoo!” Jungeun put a hand over her heart, feigning hurt. “I trusted you, man! And you just did me dirty like that!”

Jiwoo laughed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever, man. Let’s just get to the car, my arms are getting tired.”

“That’s your fault.” Hyejoo pointed out.

“My own daughter?”

“YOU’RE TWO YEARS OLDER THAN ME!”

They kept bickering all the way to the parking lot. As Jungeun expected, people started staring. Well, it was sort of a scene. Jiwoo, a sunshine girl, who was absolutely covered in glitter, rainbows and balloons, arguing with a girl wearing a leather jacket and a Paramore shirt was enough to make anyone stare.

Eventually, though, they made it, and soon Jungeun was stuffed in the backseat of a biege Toyota Corolla stuffed between two of the loudest people she’d ever met, behind a screen of balloons with Hayley Kiyoko blasting through the shitty car stereo so loud her brain hurt.

“Jiwoo.” She tried to say.

“—LIKE EVERY NIGHT I WANNA BE KISSED LIKE IT’S TH—”

“Jiwoo!”

“—SAY YOU CAN’T SLEEP, CAN’T EAT, CA—”

“KIM JIWOO!”

Abruptly the music was turned down. Even Yeojin and Chaewon shut up for a bit. “Yeah?”

Jungeun grit her teeth. “How is it that Sooyoung sits in the front seat when I am not only your cousin but also your guest?”

“First of all, you’re not a guest, you’re a student here. Second of all, Sooyoung is much less annoying.”

“Are you kidding me? I raised you on my _back_ —”

“I’m older than you?”

“That’s beside the point.”

“Sorry, man. It’s not my fault I’m so irresistible.” Jungeun groaned.

“This is a family issue, Sooyoung.”

“Well, I’m planning on being in the family soon, so it’s no problem.”

Jiwoo made a squeaking noise in the back of her throat and nearly swerved into the curb. Jungeun rolled her eyes. Jiwoo was always a complete mess when it came to girls. Once, when she was thirteen and Jiwoo was fourteen, she saw her walk straight into a tree staring at a cute girl across the park, which resulted in her nose bleeding profusely for fifteen minutes and a trip to the ER. She never got the girl’s number.

After many, many minutes of arguing over directions, calls to the other car that kept losing them for some reason, the two cars finally pulled up to the dorms. Jiwoo had pulled some strings and now she and Jungeun were rooming together, so after everyone had said goodbye and left she helped her gather all her stuff and lug it up two flights of stairs and into the dorm room. It was a bit smaller than Jungeun expected, but it was cool. Jiwoo had already done some decorating, and her side of the room was covered in fairy lights and Oh My Girl posters. She was also already ruffling through Jungeun’s luggage.

“Iridescence?”

Jungeun scowled and snatched the poster away. “Yeah, the greatest album of all time? Ever heard of it?”

Jiwoo ignored the sarcastic tone and replied, “I think Jinsoul listens to that band. She couldn’t be at the airport. She’s down in LA visiting her parents. She’s coming back tonight, though. I think. Was it tomorrow? Anyway.” She set the pride flag on the bed carefully.

Jungeun eyed it wearily. “Jiwoo? Are people...cool with that?” She gestured vaguely to the bed.

“Huh?” Jiwoo looked where she was pointing, then laughed. “Oh, yeah. This is like, the gayest place ever. Don’t worry. Most of the people you just met are super gay. Except Heejin, she’s bi. And so are Hyejoo and Jinsoul, but you haven’t met Jinsoul yet. But Heejin is like, the ultimate bi. And Yeojin’s straight, but she’s cool.”

“Did you put out an ad for gay friends or something?”

“Gays flock together, Jungeun. First lesson of the Bay Area. Oh, man, we gotta take you to the Castro!”

“The Castro?”

“The city’s thriving with revolutionary gay history, Jungeun!  _Your_ history! Educate yourself a little! Some of the best known gay activists are from this very city! Cleve Jones, Theresa Sparks, Harvey Milk!”

“I have no idea who any of those people are.”

Jiwoo leaned in. “To be honest, me neither, but Sooyoung’s super into gay history so I go with it.”

“Jiwoo, man,” she said, clapping her on the shoulder, “You’re a gay disaster.”

Then Jungeun and Jiwoo laughed together, and Jungeun knew she would find a home here.


	2. Maybe Jungeun is Tired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey, isn’t this Jiwoo’s car?”
> 
> “We don’t have time for questions, I just stole a plate from Denny’s!”

Jungeun couldn’t sleep. That wasn’t unusual; most nights she had trouble sleeping, but tonight was different. She wasn’t just awake, she was restless. She had to go somewhere. Jungeun was never good with jetlag, and this time it seemed to be hitting harder than usual. Jiwoo was snoring loud enough to wake the dead, as usual, so Jungeun knew she wouldn’t wake up. Still, she was quiet as she slipped on her clothes and borrowed Jiwoo’s car key. She wouldn’t mind. She was asleep, anyway.

As soon as she got out onto the freeway Jungeun realized she had absolutely no idea where to go. She’d barely spent a day in this place; she didn’t know where anything was. Should she pull out her phone and search something up? She looked over at it in the passenger seat and was considering pulling over when a familiar flash of yellow caught her eye. _God, I want some fucking waffles._ Before she knew it, Jungeun was pulling in to the Denny’s and shuffling in to an inappropriately large booth because there were only three other people there and she liked booths, sue her.

A tall girl in a black Denny’s uniform walked up to her booth to take her order. She was cute, Jungeun noticed. She had wide blue eyes and blondish-brownish hair she wore in a half ponytail, and a teardrop freckle. She even had soft, pink lips that Jungeun melted at. She was always a sucker for girls with soft, pink lips.

“You speak English, ma’am?”

And there it went.

Jungeun stopped for a second, completely caught off guard. It was always the pretty ones, wasn’t it? Couldn’t the universe just give her a cute, non-racist waitress to crush on?

“I said, can you speak English?” The waitress repeated it again, this time insultingly slow.

Jungeun grit her teeth. “Yes, I can speak English perfectly fine. Now can I please get my fucking pancakes?”

The girl blinked, surprised. “Oh. Um, yeah, sure.” Jungeun silently thanked all the stars the girl seemed too tired to tell her to go back to her country.

After the order was taken, Jungeun sat in vaguely sulky silence. She just wanted to get her four AM pancakes and go. Why was she even here, anyway? She groaned and rested her head in her arms, suddenly tired. She just wanted a peaceful Denny’s run, but instead, she got a really cute, really racist waiter, and a dull headache in her temples, and now she could feel her table vibrating for some reason—

_She said, “Baby boy, why you looking grimy as shit?”_

Jungeun’s head perked up. What the _fuck?_

_If I got colors on my neck, what would my mama think?_

She looked around her, but no one else seemed to be noticing. Finally, she caught eyes with a girl working the counter and walked over to her. Irene, it said on her name tag. Jungeun opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but she beat her to it.

“Don’t worry, this happens all the time,” she said reassuringly.

“What?”

Irene gestured outside. “She comes here all the time. Mostly at godforsaken hours of the night, like now. It’s to alleviate stress, she says, but I think she just lives off the attention.”

Jungeun frowned. “Um, okay.” She turned to go back to her seat, but something stopped her.

_We live life like cheetah power up like Hummer Diesel—_

Without knowing it, she was pushing past the doors, telling Sana to save her seat. She’d been looking for a fellow Brockhampton stan anyways, and maybe she’d prove to have some semblance of normalcy once Jungeun started talking to her.

As she came into view of the girl Jungeun knew that would never happen.

First of all, the girl was wearing pink cat ears. Not just cute little fluffy ears, but gigantic fursuit-esque cat ears, and as hard as it was for Jungeun to believe, it only got worse from there. The music, Jungeun learned, was not from a boombox but rather a small red speaker clipped onto her belt, which, by the way, had the most ridiculous buckle she’d ever seen. It was large and gold, probably the size of her hand, and it was carved into the shape of Texas. Additionally, she was in completely absurd Hello Kitty roller skates (though, judging from her face planting several times within the span of half a minute, Jungeun could safely say she did not know how to skate) and a Steven Universe t-shirt, which, sure, wasn’t that bad by itself, but combined with the whole outfit scared Jungeun to the core.

All of this, however, Jungeun registered only a second later after her first observation, which was that the girl was on fire. Well, not on fire. But there _were_ huge sparks shooting out from her elbows, sparks that were definitely not just sparklers. And over that ruckus, she could still hear the girl screaming Berlin lyrics at the top of her lungs, when _clearly_ San Marcos was the best song on the album. (J’ouvert if she had to pick a hype song, but her point still counted).

Then, of course, the girl slammed into the wall. Very badly and unceremoniously, Jungeun may add. She’d seen this girl crash in the five minutes she’d known her, but this one seemed particularly painful. As she slid down the wall and into a large pool of what was hopefully just water Jungeun could see red dripping down her nose.

“Fuck.”

Jungeun quickly rushed to the girl. “Oh my god, are you okay? Just a second, I’m calling 911.”

The girl raised her hand. “No, no, I’m good.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘you’re good?’ I think your nose is broken!”

“No, please, don’t take me to the hospital, Hyunjin will never let me live it down.” When Jungeun hesitated the girl continued. “My nose isn’t broken anyway. I can feel when it is, this is just a bad bleed. Speaking of which, can you get me some napkins? I can’t face Irene again. She’s scary.”

Jungeun sighed and dashed back into the restaurant. She doesn’t know how she keeps getting into situations where people’s noses start bleeding for bullshit reasons, but here she was. When she got back the girl was in exactly the same spot, putting out the last of her firecrackers that had been extinguished (since she had, indeed, fallen into a pretty deep puddle) and trying to get her speaker to turn off. The crash had apparently gotten it stuck on the highest volume level, which was weird, because Jungeun didn’t remember it blaring before.

_Because you were too busy talking to this girl._

Jungeun fought back a subtle blush forming on her cheeks. Now that her subconscious had mentioned it, the girl was pretty cute. She had dyed blonde hair like Jungeun (except Jungeun’s was more silvery) and wide eyes. And if there was anything besides pretty lips that Jungeun fell for, it was always pretty eyes.

But that didn’t matter, she reminded herself. This girl was clearly a loser, and Jungeun had a strict rule against crushing on losers.

“You gonna give me that, chief?”

Jungeun snapped out of her trance, fumbling for the napkins she’d hastily stuffed in her pockets. “Oh, yeah, sorry, I—did you just call me chief?”

The girl shrugged, but Jungeun could tell she was a little embarrassed by it too, so she decided to change the subject. “Alright, if you don’t want me to take you to a hospital, where do you want me to take you?”

The girl thought for a while. “Uh, well, I would go to my dorm, but my brother’s there and I _can’t_ let him see me like this. Damn, who would take me in?” She snapped her fingers. “Jiwoo! Can you take me to Jiwoo’s? She’ll probably be sound asleep but as soon as she learns I’m hurt I guarantee she’ll be up and at ’em. The girl’s like a human battery.”

Jungeun paused. “Are you talking about Kim Jiwoo?”

“Yeah, how do you know her?”

Jungeun frowned, then a memory came up in her head. Brockhampton fan, knows Jiwoo but wasn’t at the airport—

“You’re Jinsoul, aren’t you?”

The girl looked surprised. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

“I’m Jiwoo’s cousin. I just got here.”

“Oh! Kim Lip?”

Jungeun felt her face darken. “No, that was just a dumb nickname I made up when I was like, eight. My actual name’s Jungeun.” She stuck her hand out awkwardly. Jinsoul shook it, looking slightly uncomfortable and then coughed, making more blood spurt into her napkin. “Shit.”

“Excuse me, ma’am? Your pancakes are ready.”

Her pancakes! Jungeun got up and looked back at Jinsoul. “Don’t move.” She ran back inside, threw down a wad of bills, grabbed her pancakes (“Ma’am, you can’t take the plates—” “I’ll give them back tomorrow, I swear, please don’t call the police!”) and ran back outside, pretty much dragging Jinsoul into Jiwoo’s car, which she noticed.

“Hey, isn’t this Jiwoo’s car?”

“We don’t have time for questions, I just stole a plate from Denny’s!”

Jinsoul looked at her strangely as she frantically pulled out of the parking lot. “Plates? That’s not that bad. One time, when I was working at Taco Bell my manager caught me with a joint in the bathroom when I was supposed to be at the drive-thru counter—”

“I’ve never done anything wrong in my entire life, okay? I’ve never even seen a joint in real life, and I am _so_ not going to jail helping a girl with cat ears and a Texas belt buckle!”

“It’s the Lone Star State!”

“I know what Texas is! Why’d you even buy that, anyway? Aren’t you from LA?”

“Maybe I happen to like Sheldon Cooper!”

Jungeun gasped. “I’m sorry, you’re going to have to get out of this car.”

“I’m kidding, obviously. All the Pretty Horses. I had the hugest crush on Penélope Cruz.”

“Okay, that’s fair.”

“Mmm hmm.”

The car was silent for a couple minutes. “So are we just going to ignore how fucking weird this is?”

Jinsoul had the _audacity_ to look genuinely confused. “What do you mean?”

Jungeun glared at her. “Well, first of all, you were just roller skating in a Denny’s parking lot at four in the morning with firecrackers on your arms.”

“Oh, yeah, those? My brother bought them, and it turns out they’re illegal and originally I was just going to throw them away but he ate my fucking garlic bread so now he’s going to pay the price. Tomorrow I’m going to send him and his little friends to that exact Denny’s where I’m sure Irene will fill him up on the shit I’ve done there in front of his friends.”

“I thought you didn’t want him to you like this?”

“Oh, I don’t. But he’ll be mortified when Kevin and Jacob hear of this...what’s the word I’m looking for?”

“Headassery?”

“No, not that. Oh well.”

A thought occurred to Jungeun. “I thought your family was in LA. What’s your brother doing here?”

“His friends from Canada visited and my parents want me to show them around San Francisco while they’re here.”

“Oh, cool. What’s your brother’s name?”

“Eric. He’s a dumbass.”

Jungeun thought for a minute. “Hey, can I ask you something a little personal?” Jinsoul shrugged a little wearily and she continued. “How come your brother’s name is Eric and yours is Jinsoul?”

Jinsoul laughed airily. “That’s not much of a personal question. I thought you were gonna ask me if I’m gay.”

“Jiwoo already told me you’re bi. And you did kind of just straight up tell me you had a crush on Penélope Cruz. Also, I’m gay, if it makes you feel any better.”

“Man, I could tell you were gay the moment you walked out of those doors.” Jungeun opened her mouth to argue, but Jinsoul kept on talking. “And to answer your question, Eric’s Korean name is Youngjae. My parents gave us the option of choosing an English name when we were young, and Eric chose to. I didn’t. I just don’t like the idea of choosing a completely different name just because some white girl thinks it’s too much trouble to pronounce, you know? Not that it’s bad he chose an English name; he can do what he wants. It’s just not for me.”

Jungeun nodded. “I feel the same way, but sometimes it’s hard, you know? I used to want to go by Kim when I was young. And oh my god, just _try_ having a name like mine that’s _that_ close to Kim Jong-Un. People made fun of it constantly. It grew old really quick. But, yeah, I agree; I don’t want to change my name to fit someone else’s standards. I mean, people pronounce complicated European names all the time, but as soon as it’s Asian, it’s suddenly too hard. You know Sooyoung? Her English name is actually a French name, but it’s still more accepted than Sooyoung.”

“It’s bullshit,” Jinsoul agreed.

They eased into a period of easy silence. Jungeun smiled. She may be completely fucking crazy, and maybe a dumbass, but Jungeun couldn’t help but feel a little fond towards Jinsoul. Maybe it was those eyes. She did have pretty eyes. Maybe she—

“Do you think the government will be able to track down my firecrackers? Because if they can, I need to drop by my dorm and plant them on Eric.”

It was going to be a long drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit about korean vs english names was kind of unplanned lol. I'm not Korean, but I do have experience with people absolutely butchering my/my brothers'/my mom's names and it is SO annoying sometimes i have wanted to change it lol also, am i going to end EVERY sentence with lol? yes lol


	3. Maybe Jinsoul's Brother is an Asshole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You were such a pure child. How did you become this way?”
> 
> “Through sheer willpower and the gay agenda. Next question.”

They pulled up to the dorms five tissues later. It was still pretty dark, but Jungeun thought she could see the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. They trudged up the stairs with Jungeun’s pancakes in tow and into, to both their surprises, and already lit room.

“Well, well, well.” A voice came from behind the huge green swivel chair in Jiwoo’s side of the room. _Great._ After a moment of suspense, Jiwoo spun around as quickly as she could, nearly falling off in the process but quickly regaining her balance. She had huge fake reading glasses on, a robe that was probably stolen from a hotel, and a large cat on her lap. “Where have you two been?”

“Jiwoo, you didn’t have a cat when I was here three hours ago.”

“That’s irrelevant.”

_“Jiwoo where the fuck did you find that cat.”_

“It’s an interesting story, actually. Sit down.” She gestured to her bed.

“Jiwoo, it might have rabies!”

Jinsoul nudged her and shook her head. “Just go with it, it’ll be quicker,” she whispered. So Jungeun nodded, pretended having Jinsoul that close to her ear didn’t do anything to make her insides turn to much and sat on the bed.

“So, I was in bed, sound asleep, when I was awoken by a loud crashing sound. Now, you may be thinking, ‘Jiwoo! I thought you slept like the dead!’ Well, children, as it turns out that my ears are very sensitive to the sound of betrayal.” She turned to glare at Jungeun, who put her hands up defensively. “When I got out of bed with almost ninja-like silence, I saw that it was a certain someone tripping down the stairs with _my_ keys in their grubby little hands.”

Jungeun’s face flushed. “This is a new building for me! And my hands aren’t _grubby!”_

“So after you committed vehicle theft and drove off with my car, I decided to come down and wait for you outside. However, it’s fucking freezing out there and I turned to go back in here when I heard _the_ most adorable meow, and it was Meadow over here! Say hi!” She waved the kitten’s paw at Jungeun and Jinsoul. “She’s so skinny, and not in the legend way! So of course I had to take her inside to wait for you and I’ve had her now for around two and a half hours and long story short she’s my blood.”

Jungeun pinched her nose between her fingers. It was too damn late for this. Or early. Man, what time was it? “Okay, fine, whatever. She’s your blood. I don’t even want to get into that right now. How long have you been sitting there?”

“Long enough.”

“Why does that robe look like it’s from Holiday Inn?”

“Probably because it is.”

Jungeun gave a resigned sigh. “You were such a pure child. How did you become this way?”

“Through sheer willpower and the gay agenda. Next question.”

Jinsoul then suddenly spoke. “Um, guys, I hate to interrupt cousin bonding time, but I am very quickly running out of tissues.”

Jiwoo turned to her and blinked, as if she were just noticing she was there. “Jinsoul! Hey, why’re you guys together?”

“Well, it’s an interesting story—”

“That we don’t have time for right now, right, Jungeun?” Jinsoul looked at her with pleading eyes.

Great. The eyes again. “Yeah, I think we just need some tissues or something. Do we need ice? Do you use ice?”

Jinsoul shrugged. “I don’t think it’s that bad. My nose bleeds pretty easily anyways. It’s starting to stop now.”

Jungeun nodded reluctantly, but it seemed like she was telling the truth. In a couple minutes it had all but stopped, Jiwoo was out cold with Meadow on her bed, and Jungeun was sitting awkwardly next to Jinsoul, avoiding eye contact. But apparently Jinsoul wasn’t. “Uh, I think I need a ride back home.”

Jungeun stared at her. “Can’t you like, walk? How far is it?”

“I’m injured! Please, Jungeun?”

Jungeun cocked an eyebrow. “You sure? You can’t stay here?”

Jinsoul sighed. “Jacob will freak.”

“I thought Eric was your brother.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t give a shit about me because he’s an asshole. Jacob, on the other hand, is an angel who can do no wrong, and more importantly, he freaks out at the slightest insinuation of any harm, bodily or otherwise, to another human being. And when Jacob freaks out, Kevin freaks out. And when Kevin freaks out, Eric freaks out. And when Eric freaks out, he does dumb shit. And when he does dumb shit, I get stuck with illegal firecrackers I have to dispose of at three in the morning.” She groaned. “And i broke my fucking phone so I can’t text anyone.”

Jungeun nodded. _Everyone in California is fucking insane._

But she ended up driving her back anyways, leaving a note for Jiwoo in case she spontaneously decided to adopt a stray again. Her dorm wasn’t too far away, only a couple minutes away, which bothered Jungeun a bit, but she didn’t say anything. At this point, she was pretty sure it was easier to go with whatever people said now.

They pulled up and Jungeun walked Jinsoul to her room. She knocked on the door. “Open up, bitch!”

Jungeun heard a muffled groan and the door opened. Three high school kids stood behind it with varying degrees of concern. One boy with a very endearing concerned expression was already halfway to tears, one was trying to comfort him, and the other stood behind them on his phone, taping the crying kid. Jungeun assumed he was Eric.

The crying kid rushed forward and hugged Jinsoul. “I thought you were dead!”

Jinsoul laughed awkwardly and patted his back, reassuring him quietly, then looked up at the kid with the phone. “Eric, what the hell?” She turned to Jungeun. “See, told you he was a little asshole.”

Jungeun nodded, not knowing what to do. God, she hated uncomfortable situations.

“Who’re you?” The boy Jungeun assumed was Kevin spoke up.

“I’m, umm…” she looked at Jinsoul. “A friend.” Was that going too far? They’d only met a couple hours ago. Maybe Jinsoul was uncomfortable. “A friend of a friend,” she corrected.

“Oh. Cool.” He didn’t seem to actually care, but Jinsoul was staring at her weirdly. Great. She’d said the wrong thing, as usual. Kevin peeled Jacob off of Jinsoul and dragged him off into the dorm along with Eric.

“So, they’re staying with you in your dorm the whole time?” Jungeun asked, eager to move away from the whole friend thing.

“Oh, god, no. They’ve got a hotel room, but it’s got crappy WiFi so they hang out here most of the time.”

“Oh.”

Jinsoul coughed awkwardly. “Well, I should probably go.”

“Yeah.” Jungeun nodded and turned to leave. “Oh!” She spun back around to Jinsoul, who looked back, confused. “Jiwoo said something about inviting the ‘whole gang’ out tomorrow, so I’m assuming you’ll be there?”

Jinsoul nodded. “Yeah. I—”

A piercing scream filled the air behind Jinsoul.

“Someone get the fire extinguisher!”

“Does it look like I know where that is?”

“Then get water! Just do something! Why did you leave it in the oven that long, dumbass?”

“I think we have bigger problems right now!”

Jinsoul sighed. “Guess that’s my cue to leave. See you, Jungeun.”

Jungeun nodded, trying not to laugh. “Yeah. Bye.”

She left just as Jinsoul’s neighbors were peeking out behind their doors, wondering what all the commotion was about at this godforsaken hour of the night and drove back to Jiwoo’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i havent been updating as much (with my other story too) depression has been kicking my ass recently lol hope yall like this


	4. Maybe Jiwoo is Powerful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meadow protection squad  
> if i werent uwu i would kick ur ASS

Jungeun woke up with hair in her mouth.  _ No, not hair, _ she thought.  _ Fur. _ She bolted upright as Meadow fell off of her face. She blinked up at Jungeun with green-yellow eyes and dashed off to the bathroom. Jiwoo, of course, was already up and had a toothbrush in her mouth.

“Jungeun! You’re up!” Her words were muffled by the toothbrush. “Oh my god, you’re going to finally meet the whole gang! I’m so excited! Oh, I should add you to the group chat!” She whipped out her phone, which was absolutely covered in homemade stickers of cartoon cupcakes and kittens and some girl, over and over.

Jungeun squinted. Wait, that wasn’t —

“Jiwoo, why do you have Sooyoung’s face on your phone?”

Jiwoo hummed absentmindedly. “Oh, yeah. I asked Chaewon to draw it for me. She’s got  crazy skills. Anyways, w hat’s your Kakao ID? Do you  _ have _ a Kakao?”

Jungeun scowled. “I have a Kakao. You made one for me, remember? Kimberlylippington, remember?”

Jiwoo giggled. “Oh, yeah.” She typed something in on her phone and tapped the screen a couple times. “Hacker voice: you’re in.”

“Don’t fucking say ‘hacker voice’ out loud.”

“Just open the chat!”

Jungeun took out her phone and opened up KakaoTalk to see a new conversation titled “bay area gaysians: electric boogaloo” with the newest message from  _ ig im a furry now, _ saying “im gonna NUT.” However, when she opened the chat, she realized the text before was a picture of Keira Knightley in period dress for her upcoming movie, so...fair enough, really. The announcement read “does yeojin deserve rights? let’s discuss.”

“Say hi!” Jiwoo said. Jungeun rolled her eyes and began typing.

_ jungeun _ _   
_ hey guys! im jungeun, jiwoo’s cousin. nice to meet you all

_ hayley kiyoko’s BITCH _ _   
_ hey jungeun! im chaewon, we met at the airport!

_ ig im a furry now _   
im hyejoo/olivia, we also met at the airport good to see u

_ shut up haseul _   
im yeojin

_ shut up haseul _ __   
omg that works. so well   
i am yeojin, and my NAME is im yeojin   
GUYS

_ ur fukin mom apparently _   
yeoj. SHUT   
im haseul btw   
we havent met yet

_ yes im that purple bitch _ _   
_ im yerim!! sup

_ the hit or miss girl. you know the one _ _   
_ hey jungeun this is heejin!

_ la vivi en rose _   
im vivi/kahei! nice to see u again!

_ stop calling me hag _ _   
_ hey this is sooyoung

_ catra stan _ _   
_ why the FUCK are yall texting so early in the gotdamn morning

_ catra stan _ __   
o shit sorry jungeun   
im hyunjin btw

_ the hit or miss girl. you know the one _ _   
_ shes my gf!!!

_ ig im a furry now _ __   
omfg if u dont STOP   
i know u only say that to flex on the ppl w/o gfs

_ shut up haseul _ _   
_ i wont ever have a gf

_ ig im a furry now _   
shut it straightie

_ shut up haseul _   
HASEUL!!!!!

_ ur fukin mom apparently _ _   
_ dont come to me u know shes right

_ chuuriah carey _ _   
_ jungeun ur name is so BORING change it

Jungeun looked up. “Dude, I’m right in front of you.”

“Yeah, but it’s not very polite towards the rest of them! Text your answer.”

Jungeun rolled her eyes.

_ jungeun _ _   
_ i dont see whats wrong with what i have

_ chuuriah carey _ __   
its BORING   
change it

_ jungeun _ _   
_ to what

_ chuuriah carey _   
idk smth!!

Jungeun thought for a while and opened up the tool for changing her username.

_ if i die it was jiwoo _ _   
_ there, happy?

_ chuuriah carey _ __   
a little offensive, but ill allow it   
btw wheres jinsoul?

_ if i die it was jiwoo _ __   
idk but yesterday she was having trouble w her brother   
she might be a while

_ haseul’s favorite child _ _   
_ im here!! fear not little ones

_ yes im that purple bitch _   
will u please. change your username

_ haseul’s favorite child _   
why not u know i am

_ shut up haseul _ __   
1\. no ur not   
2\. ur not even part of the baby line   
3\. im her cousin!!! so its me obv

_ ur fukin mom apparently _ _   
_ why would you say that with UR username

_ shut up haseul _   
it’s loving!! ily <3

Jungeun had just started to type out her message when Meadow jumped up on her legs, meowing wildly. Jungeun swore loudly and glared up at Jiwoo. “Jiwoo, get your psycho cat under control!”

Jiwoo gasped loudly. “Don’t call Meadow that! You might hurt her feelings.”

Jungeun scowled. “I don’t give a shit! I’m not living under the same roof as that  _ thing _ as long as it tried to kill me!”

Jiwoo gasped even louder. “Don’t call Meadow a  _ thing. _ This calls for a stand. I’m changing my Kakao name.”

Jungeun rolled her eyes. “You do that.” A minute later, a notification popped up.

_ meadow protection squad _   
yall wont fuckin BELIEVE what jungeun said abt meadow

_ hayley kiyoko’s BITCH _   
woah jiwoo changed her name jungeun what did u DO

_ if i die it was jiwoo _ _   
_ ejskderijk i just insulted her stray,, jiwoo. calm

“A  _ stray?” _ Jiwoo glared up from her phone, but ended up looking more like an annoyed penguin. “I’ve  _ never…” _ She looked back down at her phone and began typing furiously.

_ meadow protection squad _   
if i werent uwu i would kick ur ASS

_ if i die it was jiwoo _ _   
_ id like to see you try fucker

_ catra stan _ _   
_ jiwoos hello kitty ass gettin BEAT

_ la vivi en rose _   
idk abt that have u seen jiwoo mad   
u remember what she did to jinsoul in the infamous cheerios incident of ’17

_ stop calling me hag _ _   
_ i wasnt even there but i wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it

_ haseul’s favorite child _ _   
_ I TOLD MY THERAPIST ABT U AND BTW SHES SCARED OF U NOW

_ meadow protection squad _ _   
_ (ㆁᴗㆁ✿)

“Oh shit, the time!” Jiwoo looked at Jungeun. “C’mon, we gotta go.” She grabbed her jacket and ran to the door. “Aah, you’re gonna meet the whole gang! I’m so excited! Let’s go! Yeehaw!” And she ran out the door before Jungeun had time to process the fact she had actually said  _ yeehaw. _

“Yeehaw…” she muttered and followed her more than likely unstable cousin out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kinda a filler chapter, im sorry guys :((


	5. Maybe Yeojin is in Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Those boys are the Huangs, AKA the family this group has the most drama with. They’re pretty much the Capulet to our Montague."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stan nct for clear skin!!

Ten minutes into their drive, Jiwoo announced she had forgotten to get snacks for the rest of the girls and made a frankly dangerous turn off the freeway and into the market parking lot.

“Why are we even getting snacks?” Jungeun grumbled as Jiwoo was debating a box of chocolate chip cookies or a marbled cake.

Jiwoo frowned at her. “Weren’t you listening? We’re going to the Painted Ladies.”

“The what now?”

Jiwoo tutted, putting down the marbled cake. “The Painted Ladies. It’s in the city, you’ll see.”

“And why do we need snacks to go to the Painted Ladies?”

“Because it’s the perfect place to have a picnic!”

Jungeun rolled her eyes. “Great. A picnic. What are we, five?”

But a picnic did actually sound pretty good, Jungeun thought. The sky was blue and it wasn’t all that windy, which, according to Jiwoo, was really rare. It could be nice. Hopefully. A nice, relaxing picnic didn’t really seem like this group of friends’ forte, but she was hoping.

Some minutes later, however, she was pleasantly surprised. When they arrived, there was no group of shouting girls or anything on fire. It was quiet—well, relatively quiet for being in the middle of a large city—and very pretty.

The Painted Ladies, it turned out, were a set of old Victorian houses encircling a grassy spot of land. There were lots of people there, but Jungeun recognized Heejin and a girl sitting next to her, which she assumed to be Hyunjin.

They rushed over to them, Jiwoo putting down her box of cookies and tackling Heejin, who immediately hugged her back, and the two started screaming. Jungeun looked over at Hyunjin, who looked as though she were rethinking her relationship with Heejin.

“Uh...I’m Jungeun. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

Hyunjin turned to her. “Oh, yeah, hey, I’m Hyunjin. Jiwoo’s cousin, right?”

“Unfortunately.” Hyunjin snorted. Jungeun smiled. “That’s your girlfriend, right?” she asked, nodding toward Heejin.

“Unfortunately.”

Soon the others were there, coming in twos and threes. Hyejoo and Chaewon came first, then Yeojin and two other girls, one of whom Jungeun assumed to be Haseul, then Kahei, Sooyoung and Jinsoul. Jiwoo waved them over and they sat down, everyone bringing some kind of food or drink.

Jungeun learned the two girls with Yeojin were indeed Haseul and Yerim, and they had whipped up a feast of sandwiches and cupcakes. Kahei, Sooyoung and Jinsoul had brought cups of cup-o-noodles with piping hot water still in them (Jungeun didn’t even want to know how they had brought it without spilling it) and three huge bottles of coke. Hyejoo and Chaewon had brought an assortment of fruits and some bottles of water, and Heejin and Hyunjin had provided the plates and napkins.

The weather was nice, and, surprisingly, so was the company. Jiwoo’s friends didn’t do anything weird, and they were actually pretty good people to talk to. They had broken off into little sub friend groups. Hyejoo and Chaewon were talking with Kahei, Haseul, Hyunjin, Heejin and Jinsoul were chatting animatedly, and Yerim was whispering with a vaguely flustered Yeojin. Jinsoul seemed to be having fun, Jungeun thought. They were sitting next to each other. For no particular reason, of course. She’d completely missed how Jinsoul had smiled at her when she saw her sitting at the picnic blanket. And she was only sticking near her because she knew her the best out of Jiwoo’s friend group, except for Jiwoo, but she was over by Sooyoung making really bad attempts to flirt, so Jungeun didn’t really count her.

“You know that Yerim has a Danny Devito shrine in her bedroom?” Yeojin announced loudly and suddenly.

“Understandable,” Jinsoul said, taking a sip of coke.

Yerim flushed. “You promised you wouldn’t tell, traitor! Well, Yeojin has a crush on that guy over there!” She pointed to a group of three guys across the grass, one tall and two relatively short.

Hyejoo looked over, her face immediately turning red. _“Renjun?_ You have a crush on Renjun? As in Huang-fucking-Renjun?”

Yeojin scowled. “What? No, he’s grumpy as hell. I have a crush on the other one. Chenle.”

Jinsoul suddenly looked up, her mouth full of noodles she quickly swallowed. “Renjun and Chenle?” She looked behind her wildly. _“Shit,”_ she hissed. “It’s Lucas.”

“What?” Jungeun asked, confused. “What’s going on?”

Haseul groaned. “Really, Yeojin? You just had to pick a boy from the Huangs, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t know his brothers were Renjun and Lucas! I thought Lucas was white! His name is Lucas! Have you ever met a not-blond Lucas?”

“How could you think that? First of all, we described him to you! Many times! Second of all, unless he’s Tom Holland, I would never date a white guy!”

“Um, what’s going on?” Jungeun asked again.

Hyunjin, who was sitting next to her, leaned in and said, “Those boys are the Huangs, AKA the family this group has the most drama with. They’re pretty much the Capulet to our Montague. Hyejoo dated the second youngest boy, Renjun, in her sophomore year. They didn’t break up on good terms. Actually, I’m pretty sure Renjun destroyed her desk. The third youngest, and the middle child, Lucas, has a huge crush on Jinsoul. He seriously will not stop following her, so he’s our main concern. Luckily, the other two aren’t here—Sicheng and Kun. Haseul used to date Sicheng back when she thought she was straight, and figured it out during their relationship. It kinda broke his heart. And the last one, Kun, he’s definitely the scariest. He’s still bitter because he had a crush on this girl named Joy. He really put a lot of effort into making her like him, and at the last second Kahei started dating her. They’re not together anymore, but he still has a grudge against her. Like, big time. Also, they have these three cousins that come over from overseas sometimes, Meiqi, Jieqiong and Tzuyu, and they’re _super_ protective of them. Heejin dated Tzuyu, and Sooyoung dated both Meiqi _and_ Jieqiong. So yeah, they pretty much hate us. And out of either the bro or girlfriend code, even if we personally don’t have beef with them we also hate them. And now _Yeojin—”_ she paused to glare at her “—has now fallen for their younger brother because she didn’t bother to check if he was from the family of our _mortal enemies.”_

Yeojin rolled her eyes. “You all are being dramatic. Who cares if I like Chenle? You guys are blowing this way out of proportion.”

“No, we’re not!” Haseul cried. “If you start dating Chenle, I’ll have to see Sicheng, and I literally _cannot_ handle that. Have you forgotten _everything?_ The Huangs will tear us apart!”

“Also, I’ll sucker punch you if you make me spend a second around Lucas. Now man the fuck up and hide me, Im.” Jinsoul ducked behind Yeojin’s back.

Sooyoung smirked. “I should ask them how Meiqi is doing.”

“You should not!” Jiwoo squeaked. Then she coughed. “I mean, it’ll bring them over here, and everyone’s gonna freak out—”

Sooyoung laughed. “Aw, don’t worry. It’s just because I hate them, not because I don’t like you.”

Jungeun shook her head. “You guys have weird lives.”

“Don’t draw attention to us!” Hyejoo, who was now hiding her face behind Chaewon’s, hissed.

“ _Fuck,_ Sicheng and Kun are here.” Sure enough, two figures were walking onto the grass as they spoke. They arrived at the three other boys. One turned, and before she could move, made eye contact with Jungeun.

Sooyoung’s eyes widened. “Abort, abort! Everyone grab your shit and _run.”_

“Oh, Jinsoul! Hey!” Lucas, the tall one was running over. Everyone was scrambling to pack up everything of their lunch.

“Ow! I spilled hot ramen soup on my arm!”

“Run through the pain!”

“Forget the fucking grapes! Run, bitch!”

As Jungeun thrust her half-eaten baloney sandwich into a ziploc, she looked over her shoulder. Lucas was way closer. He had freakishly long legs, Jungeun noticed.

A booming voice cut through the crowd. “Ha Sooyoung!” It was immediately followed by a lengthy sentence in Mandarin that Jungeun was pretty sure couldn’t be that nice.

“It’s Kun!”

Hyunjin grabbed an orange and threw it at him. It hit him between the eyes and he howled, grabbing his forehead. Jungeun winced internally. Heejin had told her what a strong arm Hyunjin had. People were beginning to stare at them. Jungeun was pretty sure she saw Kahei bowl over a four-year-old in the corner of her eye.

“Jungeun!” She looked over to see Jiwoo holding her hand out. “Stick with me!”

Without thinking, Jungeun grabbed it, and they sprinted off. A couple seconds later, however, they found themselves with the group again, and surrounded.

“Jinsoul!” Lucas grinned and waved at her.

“Heejin.” Was that the Renjun guy?

“Hey Yeojin.” Definitely Chenle. He was blushing, Jungeun noticed.

“I hate all of you,” Kun growled, still pressing his hand against where the orange had struck him.

“Haseul,” a soft voice said. Sicheng. He looked sad, though. Not angry.

“Okay,” Chaewon said, as if thinking, then wrested a coke bottle from Jiwoo’s arms. She raised it up over her head and threw it as hard as she could on the ground. It immediately exploded everywhere, spraying sticky soda bubbles all over everyone. “Scatter!” Chaewon roared, so Jungeun bolted.

“I’m covered in coke!”

“Suck it up!”

“Haseul, I wanna stay!”

“Yeojin, shut up and come with me.”

Which way was Jiwoo’s car? Jungeun couldn’t remember. People were definitely staring openly now, some who had gotten a coating of soda looking highly annoyed. Jungeun knew they didn’t actually know her, but she was terrified they would take her back to their evil witch cave and sacrifice her to Satan’s lesser demons on account of guilty by association.

“Jungeun, over here!” She looked over at Jinsoul, who was across the street, standing in front of a house. Looking around the street hurriedly (safety first, of course), she sprinted to the other side.

“Jinsoul!” she gasped. “This is so not what I signed up for.”

“Shh.” Jinsoul looked around. “They seem to mostly be going for Sooyoung and Kahei. Understandable, Kun hates them the most. Come on, we can hide in Kahei’s car.”

“Where is it?”

“A couple blocks from here. We’ve got to move.”

“Why is it so far away?”

“Because you have no idea how hard it is to park in the city. Honestly, I was surprised she made it this close. Now all we’ve got to do is avoid—”

“Jinsoul! I’ve been looking for you!”

“Shit!” She looked at Jungeun. “Do you trust me?”

“What?”

“I said do you trust me?”

“I guess, wh—”

Jungeun was cut off as Jinsoul pressed her lips to hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!!! thanks so much for reading this, you guys have no idea how much your comments mean to me. I LOVE YOU ALL AND IM YOUR MOM NOW. also, i have a special purpose for this: im looking for a, how do you say, beta reader. if anyone would be willing, you can dm me on twt @channgbins !!!!! i love you all and take care of yourself!!!


	6. Maybe Kahei is Terrifying

_ HSAJDJKJHKAZ. _ Jungeun immediately began screaming internally. What was she supposed to do? Did she have to move? Should she move? Should she close her eyes? Was this what malfunctioning robots felt? Her arms flailed around her wildly, and after a few seconds Jinsoul pulled back.

“Wh—”

“Jinsoul?” Crap, Lucas!

Jungeun turned around to see him standing behind them with a confused, hurt look on his face.

“What are you doing?”

Jinsoul blinked at him, as though she were just noticing him. “Oh, Lucas! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”

Lucas looked back and forth between them. “Who is she?” He pointed at Jungeun.

“Oh yeah,” Jinsoul laughed and put her arm around her, “I forgot to introduce you to my new girlfriend! She just got here for college! This is Jungeun.”

“Girlfriend?” Lucas and Jungeun exclaimed at the same time. “Um…” Jungeun looked at Jinsoul, who shot her a pleading expression. “I mean, yeah. Girlfriend. Totally.” She wrapped her arm around Jinsoul’s shoulders awkwardly.

“You’re…” Lucas seemed to be floundering for words. “You’re  _ gay?” _

“Yup!” Jinsoul cried, almost gleefully. “Is there something you needed?”

“Um, no.” Lucas looked down for a second and backed away. “I have to go. Kun’s looking for me. Uh, bye, Jinsoul.”

“See you!” Jinsoul chirped.

They waited until Lucas had turned the corner before unhooking themselves from each other. Jungeun could feel her face burning. “D—don’t you think that was a little harsh? Making him believe you’re my girlfriend? I—I mean, he seemed harmless enough.”

Jinsoul shuddered. “He’s so  _ not _ harmless. He’s a fucking stalker. He hasn’t done anything illegal, yet, but there’s only a matter of time before he does.”

“Oh.” Jungeun had never had any encounters like that, so she had no idea what to say.

Jinsoul shook her head, suddenly laughing. “Well, anyway, we’ve got to get to the others. But—you know, we should probably avoid Sooyoung. She’s probably getting her ass handed to her as we speak.”

Jungeun laughed as they walked in the direction of Kahei’s car, but her mind still burned with the feeling of Jinsoul’s lips against hers.

She’d kissed girls before. Shit, she’d kissed guys before, back when she had been young and believed she was straight. Kissing Jinsoul, however, was...different. It wasn’t as if it was unlike anything she’d ever felt or something dramatic like that, but…

Perhaps it had been because it was abrupt? Or maybe because it was in front of someone else? Or maybe both?

Then the yelling started, and Jungeun was reminded of what was actually going on. “Ha Sooyoung! I need to have a word with you!”

“I’m good!”

Another voice yelled something out in Mandarin.

“I don’t know what you’re saying and you know it, you short ass bitch!”

“Really? My height?”

“Yeah, you come up to my waist and you know it!”

Shaking off thoughts of pretty blond girls and soft lips, Jungeun sprinted toward the sound of voices. Sooyoung, Jiwoo, Hyejoo, Kahei, Kun and Renjun were on the edge of a crosswalk, screaming things at each other. Kahei seemed to have her hand in her jacket. Whenever one of the men took a step forward, she would reach further into it, and they would turn slightly paler and back off.

Damn, that girl was scary.

“Leave my girl alone!” Jiwoo suddenly shrieked.

Jungeun groaned internally. Really, she should have expected that Jiwoo would start getting involved in this.

Kun scoffed. “Your girl?”

Jiwoo turned scarlet. “I mean, not technically, but—”

“Jiwoo.” She turned and noticed Jungeun. “Jiwoo, we gotta go.”

Kun frowned when he saw her. “Who are you?”

Jungeun huffed. “I’m Jiwoo’s cousin, I just moved here, and I have absolutely no interest in your guys’ little feud. Now, can we please go, Jiwoo?”

“Yeah, we should leave,” Kahei spoke up for the first time. “These idiots aren’t worth an arrest.” She turned to them, told them something in a low voice Jungeun couldn’t quite make out, flipped them the bird and stalked off.

The Huang boys just stood on the sidewalk, Kun’s face gradually getting redder as they walked further away. What the hell had just gone on? Jungeun shook her head. At least she’d finally met a group of people who were definitely crazier than Jiwoo’s friends. The look in that Renjun guy’s eyes…

Jungeun shivered. It didn’t matter, anyway, she told herself. They’re gone, and you’re never talking to them again. How many had there been? Kun, Sicheng, Chenle, Renjun, and Lucas, she counted. As soon as she got to Lucas, her mind flashed with the memory of Jinsoul’s kiss and her face began to burn.

She looked up at her. Immediately she noticed she had already been staring at her. Blushing harder, she ducked her her down to stare at her shoes some more, ignoring her even as she moved to walk next to her.

“Hey,” she said quietly. “Sorry about that. I just panicked and it was the only way I could think of to get him to leave me alone.”

Jungeun shook her head, still looking down. “No, it’s okay. I know why you did it.”

Jinsoul sighed. “No, it’s not okay. I shouldn’t have kissed you without consent. It was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have,” Jungeun agreed, though, if she were being honest, the concept of consensuality had not crossed her mind at all. But she appreciated what Jinsoul was trying to say, so she said, “But it’s okay. I forgive you.”

Jinsoul scanned her face for a couple seconds, as though trying to discern her sincerity before breaking out into another one of her huge, blinding smiles. “Great! Now, let’s all go over to Haseul and Yeojin’s and get fucking  _ wasted!” _

Jungeun laughed as she bounded away to Haseul, presumedly to ask about the whole “getting wasted” idea. When she was sure Jinsoul was no longer paying attention to her, she pressed her palm to her chest. Her heart was beating so badly it was shaking her entire body. And as much as she tried to convince herself it had been because of the Huang boys, as she looked over at Jinsoul, who was now laughing at something Sooyoung had said, she knew what had been the cause.

Standing next to her, listening to the entire conversation, Jiwoo looked over at what Jungeun was staring at, and then back to her cousin. A small smile crossed her lips before she turned back to Yerim to finish their conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **PLEASE READ**
> 
> Hey!!!! so i know i havent been posting lately, and im really sorry about that. actually, we just moved!! so im not a bay area resident anymore,,,,,,,,,,,just a fraud.......dhsjlaf anyways im putting this story on pause for a little bit, because the move and a lot of other things has made it really hard to update. im really sorry for anyone who expected more, and i promise this story is not abandoned. i just need some time to adjust before ill be back up and running!!! thank you to everyone who has followed this story so far!!!


	7. Maybe Kun is Nice?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! im so sorry i havent posted anything in forever! unfortunately, it might stay that way for a while. there wont be another hiatus as long as this one, but im a slow writer in general, and exams are coming up, so updates might be sparse. thanks to everyone that's still sticking with this story!

Before she knew it, the weekend had passed and Jungeun was in her first class of the year. There were a bit too many people for her liking, especially after her experience with people since moving here, but they weren’t as chaotic as Jiwoo’s friends, and they didn’t bug her with petty gang feuds, so it was a nice change of pace.

The classrooms were much larger than what she was used to, and it had been pretty embarrassing to raise her hand for three straight minutes only to find out you didn’t have to ask to use the restroom, but it was tolerable. She met Haseul and Jiwoo in her class, and saw Sooyoung shuffling into another, but she didn’t notice her.

It was all going fine until her second class of the day. She slid into a random seat at the back of class, restlessly tapping her fingers on the desk, watching the student shuffle in.

“So,” a voice started at the back of her head, and Jungeun nearly jumped into the air.

She whirled around to the sound of the voice, her heart nearly stopping as she saw his face. “Huang Kun.”

Kun smiled. “Well, I’m Kun Huang here. But yes, that’s me.”

“Ah.” Jungeun could feel her ears getting uncomfortably warm as she fumbled for words. “Uh…”

After several second of awkward silence, Kun spoke again. “What’s your name? I didn’t catch it before.”

“Uh, Jungeun.” She cleared her throat. “Jungeun Kim.”

He stuck out his hand. “Hello, Jungeun Kim.”

Reluctantly, she took it. She felt a prickle on her neck, as if Jiwoo were already declaring her betrayal. Seeming to sense her discomfort, Kun said, “Listen, I think we got off on the wrong foot. That was a pretty rough way to meet, huh?”

Jungeun chuckled nervously. “Yeah, it was.”

He smiled warmly. “I just don’t want you to think that that back there is me. You know, the yelling and stuff.”

“Uh, yeah.” Where was the professor?

“No, really.” He reached up and put a hand on her shoulder. Every single alarm imaginable started to ring in Jungeun’s head.

“Um…”

“Look, I—”

He was interrupted by the sound of a book slamming into wood. “Class.” A tall white man with gray hair was standing at the front of the room

“Class is starting,” Jungeun muttered, shifting so his hand fell off her shoulder. Kun frowned but turned to the professor.

Jungeun couldn’t focus. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kun staring at her throughout the lesson. She was trying to scan for an escape route discreetly, trying to think of a distraction while she got away when she realized everyone was standing up. “Huh?”

“It’s over,” Kun said.

“Oh, yeah, I, uh, gotta go.” She turned quickly, but Kun grabbed her elbow.

“Wait. You got a class?”

“Uh...”

“So that’s a no? Then let’s go get coffee!”

Jungeun’s mouth felt dry. She floundered for an excuse, but she was so caught off guard her mind completely blanked. “I, uh, I don’t—”

“There’s a really good hipster artisanal coffee shop a block from here. It’s called WayV, you seen it?”

Jungeun swallowed. “Uh, no, I don’t think so.”

“Well, it’s amazing. And not just because I work there part time!” He laughed, winking. He actually  _ winked _ at her. In person. Non ironically. “Alright, let’s go.”

Jungeun sighed deeply. Guess there was no escaping him. Still, every single atom in her body screamed for her to run as fast as she could as she followed his footsteps to whatever this coffee place was. Honestly, his whole demeanor creeped her the fuck out. He seemed friendly enough, but almost...plasticy. His smile seemed stretched too tight over his bones, his voice just manufactured enough to set you on edge.

But still, she thought, maybe it was just her. She had had a pretty bad first impression of the guy, after all. This was technically her first ever interaction with him, and judging from it, he didn’t seem...too bad, despite what Jiwoo’s gang had informed her. Maybe a little pushy, but nothing horrible.

In any case, they ended up walking into a small corner coffee shop, settling into an even smaller booth and ordering. They made polite conversation as they waited. She told Kun she and Jiwoo were originally both from a small town in South Carolina, which was filled with both nice people and racists. (Sometimes they were the same person, which made it even weirder.) Kun in turn told her that while most of him and his brothers were from China, the youngest two, Chenle and Renjun had actually been born here, in the states, in Baltimore.

As Jungeun relaxed, she found herself genuinely laughing at his jokes, and even enjoying his company. He had the same sense of dry humor as her, liked the same movies as her, even the same music, which was really hard to come by. He was cool and witty, and almost brotherly, asking with concern about how well she was doing in all aspects. As time passed comfortably, Jungeun glanced at her phone and realized it was nearly time for her next class.

“Shit!” She swore. She smiled sheepishly up at Kun. “I planned to run back to my dorm to grab some things before going, but I suppose not.”

Kun laughed. “Do you have to go now?” he asked.

Jungeun looked desperately from her phone to him. “I don’t think so. I have a few more minutes.”

“Oh, good. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Sinking back into her seat with a sense of dread, she said, “Yeah?”

“It’s just about something my brother told me.” He stirred the coffee in his cup with his spoon for a couple seconds, not saying a word. “Is it...true you and the Jinsoul girl are dating?”

_ Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck _ —

“Umm….yes?”

Kun quirked an eyebrow, smiling. “Really? You don’t sound too sure.” He leaned forward on his elbows, staring into her eyes. “Listen, Jungeun, honestly, I don’t care if you’re dating. I don’t. It’s just that my brother is heartbroken over this girl, and he really needs to know.”

“I...am.” Jungeun reiterated, more confidently this time. No matter how charming Kun was, she wasn’t going to let Jinsoul be harassed by Lucas because of her.

“Really?” Kun chuckled. “But I thought you just met her?”

“Just met her...in person, that is!” Jungeun laughed nervously. “We’ve actually been texting for a while, and I asked her out when I got here.”

“Oh, so it’s a new relationship?”

“No! I mean, yes. I mean, sort of. It’s complicated. I guess.”

Kun’s infuriatingly kind eyes bore into her. The way he talked and acted made him sound innocent, but Jungeun could feel herself being interrogated.

After half a minute of intense, veiled staring, Kun sat back. “Well, I just wanted to make sure. Family’s got to stick together, right?”

“Yeah,” Jungeun said quickly, standing up. “Okay, well, I gotta go. See you ar—”

“Wait, before you leave,” Kun stood up as well, taking out his phone. “I didn’t catch your number.”

Jungeun froze, caught off guard. She was having wildly conflicting emotions about Kun right now. On the one hand, Jiwoo thought he was pure evil, and though her cousin was psychotic, she was a generally good judge of people. Not to mention the rest of her gang, who she didn’t know that well but seemed like good people, and who Jiwoo trusted.

But on the other hand, she liked him. She really, really did. There was something about him that drew her to him, between his apparent concern for her, the references she actually got, and his seeming knowledge of the world. If she were in high school, he was the kind of guy she would absolutely have a comphet crush on.

“...Sure.” She semi reluctantly punched in her number, said goodbye, and scrambled off to class. Jesus, what was she going to tell Jiwoo?


End file.
